White Blank Page
by short-macchiato
Summary: Enjolras has returned, after years of studying and working abroad, and much to his dismay, everything has changed. ExE AU.


That diamond caught the light all too often, to the point where it seemed to be reflecting and bouncing off everything in the room, like it was teasing him. He hated every inch of that 2 carat princess, brilliant or what ever cut it was engagement ring but most of all, he hated how it seemed to be shining directly at him. Smiling at him, teasing him, he's been staring at her for far too long now, though it's not like she notices him anymore, and even so, why should she?

He was watching from his spot on the table, a beer in one hand, his phone in the other, scrolling through emails, because it's midday on a Sunday and he was a very busy man.

Cosette just wanted a quiet affair, because really, what eleven month old needs an extravagant christening, but according to her father, it was the most important of all sacraments and according to her friends, it would be a great opportunity to drink and to get together, so really, why not?

Enjolras had flown back in for the event, sort of, not really, he had been meaning to come back home for a while now, seeing as it was fast approaching two years since he had been in the country. It really wasn't his fault though, everyone just seemed so eager to fly over and see him, that he really saw no need to go and visit them, and besides, he thought as he reread an email he received last night, he was a very busy man, and everyone always wants to go to New York.

Well almost everyone.

Enjolras never really expected to get into Cornell. He knew he had done well, and so he should have considering the sheer workload he had taken on in his final years of high school, he just wasn't quite aware of how well. He applied for Cornell and Brown, along with Courfeyrac and Bahorel, he still remembers laughing with them as they filled out the application, imagining the faces of admissions officers when they read their stuffy and grandiose discussions about why they wanted to be lawyers (well Bahorel discussed how he wanted to be the next Toby Ziegler, ironically going for a more unique angle). Strangely enough, Cornell liked his ridiculously pretentious piece on the importance of instituting wider governmental transparency, and even stranger still, they accepted him.

Enjolras was going to Cornell.

At eighteen, Enjolras knew that their relationship wouldn't last, even if she didn't believe him. He was a realist, he knew that high school sweethearts don't get married and that long distance relationships never work, so why delay what was already going to happen? Why waste both of their times on a relationship that wasn't going to last the next few months? End it now, just be done. To her credit though, Eponine took it well, she nodded, congratulated him and wished him the best, just like the rest of his friends. Things were just easy with her, that's why he loved her, because even at eighteen Enjolras felt like he was running a race and only just keeping up, so, so close to falling behind, Eponine made things feel better. But he didn't expect her to move to America for him and she didn't want to, after all, she too had spent the last year working her ass off for a place at a university, her paramedic degree commenced in a few months.

"I could wait for you-" Eponine started as she was saying her goodbyes at the airport, late that December, because she loved him and as much as she loved to deny it, she adored those passionate declarations of love. She was that person who believed that love could conquer everything and that distance was irrelevant, for them at least.

"Don't, please, just don't" So Enjolras walked through the gates of the airport and out of her life, he was surprised with himself, at how easily he was able to leave her.

She didn't wait for Enjolras, she listened to him, because with her, things were never complicated. Tell her she'll be wasting her time waiting and she won't, it was one of the reasons he loved her.

So if he loved her for all these reasons, why wouldn't someone else. According to Cosette, Eponine met Anders a few years ago, at a bar in Amsterdam. He had just gotten a job in France and she was on holidays. Six months later Eponine introduced him to the group, and a year after that, the pair were engaged.

"Do you think she's doing it on purpose?" Enjolras leaned over to Courfeyrac, still not tearing his eyes off the sickening couple on the dancefloor. It seemed as if every few seconds Eponine's fiance was leaning down, dotting soft pecks on her forehead.

Courfeyrac followed his eye line to the couple, completely lost in each other. "She's happy Enjolras, she's beautiful when she smiles."

"Yeah" Enjolras agreed "but we only broke up three years ago, don't you think it's a little quick and- and she's still really young and,"

Enjolras continued, rattling off all the reasons why Eponine getting married was a bad idea and Courfeyrac just watched, chewing on his lip and for perhaps the first time in his life, pitying his friend. "Enjolras," Courfeyrac sighed softly. "You didn't think she was going to wait for you did you?"

Enjolras turns to face Courfeyrac, before directing his attention back to Eponine. He was silent, unusually silent for someone like Enjolras, and Courfeyrac knew that he was delving into a part of Enjolras' personality, which few had dared to before. A part which Enjolras himself had worked to bury, to hide as if it were a vulnerability, or a fatal flaw. The ring catches his eye again, and it is too big, almost gaudy and it's shine is almost blinding "I guess I did".

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading, the title comes from the Mumford and Sons song of the same name, please review it is very much appreciated.<p> 


End file.
